Crawley vs Bolton Prediction: Charles can add salt to Crawley’s wounds

Oh Crawley. Having lost pretty much all of their first-team players following their surprise promotion from League 2 last term, now they’ve lost their inspirational and talented manager too. Scott Lindsey has worked miracles in West Sussex, taking them from relegation certainties in the fourth tier, to League 1, but now he has decided to drop down a level to take charge of MK Dons. 

MK Dons were of course the team that Lindsey hammered 8-1 in the play-off semi-finals last term, so it's no wonder that they have made him their first choice, after the underperforming Mike Williamson joined Carlisle United. Prior to his departure, Crawley had picked up seven points from six games as they look to pull off the most unlikely survival.

It’s also the same number of points as Saturday’s opponents, Bolton, have amassed this term. With far superior expectations heading into this campaign, Wanderers manager Ian Evatt is also coming under some pressure to produce, as his side were expected to challenge the top-two this term. They will want to pick up results now, starting on Saturday (12:30, Sky Sports+) and below you can find my Crawley vs Bolton prediction. 

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Crawley’s attacking trio of Jeremy Kelly, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Ronan Darcy are all fit to start and will look to cause a shaky Bolton defence problems. Ben Gladwin is unlikely to make too many drastic changes given Lindsey was having some success, with Joy Makuna key at the heart of the defence. 

Bolton meanwhile were beaten 5-1 by Arsenal in midweek and I’d expect Evatt to go back to the team that scored five against Reading last time out in the league. Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo should come back in up front, with goalkeeper Nathan Baxter set to return between the sticks.

Crawley vs Bolton Odds

Crawley are priced at 16/5 to win here, with Bolton the faves at 5/6. A draw can be backed at 11/4, over 2.5 goals is 8/11 and BTTS is 4/6.

Bolton to win @ 5/6

There’s a clear disparity between these two sides in terms of quality, despite the fact that they are currently level on points. Crawley have a team that will be battling relegation this term, especially without Linsdsey, while I still believe Bolton will be in the top six come May. 

I think they will show their class here having got up and running with a five-goal rout of Reading last weekend. They have to start winning games otherwise Evatt will run out of time, but I think they will be able to do so at the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday. 

Dion Charles to score 2+ @ 9/1

Still a class act in League 1, Charles has scored four goals in six league games for a misfiring team. He will be full of confidence having bagged a hat-trick on home soil in his last start, which included two penalties. 

He is growing into the season and is Bolton’s talisman, so I would be surprised if he doesn’t find the net at Crawley this weekend. In fact, I think we are getting pretty good odds on him to score two or more goals, given I expect Bolton to dominate against a side that could be about to lose their way. 

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